Unusual vertical setup -- will this work?

19 years ago

I have a 20' x 3' raised bed that is about 1.5' from my shed wall. The shed wall has a wonderful and sturdy trellis covering the entire side of the shed. However, between the bed and the shed there is a 1.5' foot wide path covered with wood chips.

Can I use the shed wall for vertical gardening? I'd love to grow some veggies up the trellis, however it's not practical for me to pull out the wood chip path (at least not this season, I'll be REALLY pregnant this spring).

What vegetables could reach across the gap and then up the trellis successfully? Some of my ideas are cukes, beans, and gourds, but I'd like to know if it can/should be done.

Could I "train" the vines up the trellis with twine? Am I making things way too difficult for myself?

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Comments (6)

jackier123
19 years ago
Actually this could work. My mom does her clematis this way to cover up utility boxes. On one side of the utility boxes she has a raised bed and on the other she has a lattice trellis. She runs twine from spikes hammered into the raised bed to the trellis on the other side of the boxes. It runs at about a 45 degree angle. As her clematis sprouts, she trains them to run across the twine to the trellis. Makes for a cool looking structure and the utility boxes are not the eye-sores that they previously were.

Jackie
naplesgardener
19 years ago
I'm not sure how you could reach the veggies on the trellis to harvest them if I'm understanding your idea correctly, especially while pregnant.
Instead you could put pots or earthboxes next to the shed and trellis them. You could have beans, cukes, tomatoes, etc in the pots/boxes and still use the path and be able to reach them to harvest.
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lantanascape
19 years ago
If it's the 3' end that's near the wall, I think it would work, and still be harvestable. I would probably do beans, since they seem to be the most willing climbers. If you have a couple feet of chicken wire or bird netting laying around, you could use that to bridge the gap and they should climb right up.
bonitaapplebum
Original Author
19 years ago
To clarify -- the 20x3 bed runs parallel to the shed -- the 20 foot side runs along the length of the shed.

Also, harvesting shouldn't be too problematic, baby is due in early June. I just don't want to do a lot of digging to pull out the path this spring, b/c that's when I'll be a little cumbersome. :)
maineman
19 years ago
BA,

The true climbers, like pole beans, tall climbing English peas, and morning glories, should be trainable over from your raised bed to the trellis. The plain vines, like vining nasturtium, indeterminate tomatoes, watermelons, cantaloupes, muskmelons, cucumbers, and non-bush squash, will need considerable help getting them over to the trellis and then you may have to "help them" stay on the trellis with a few ties.

MM
an_ill-mannered_ache
19 years ago
maybe there's something I'm missing here, but why not just plant right in the mulch? check out the mulch and the "lasagna gardening" forums, or just google "mulch gardening."

I grow all my vegetables in beds of mixed compost (hay, leaves, pine straw, wood chips) laid several inches thick.

Here is a link that might be useful: mulch gardening in my own garden...